Fresh evidence has emerged that Vladimir Putin secretly owns a billion-pound clifftop palace in the Black Sea after a data breach from a fitness app.
The Kremlin has denied that the luxurious residence belongs to the Russian president, but an investigation by French newspaper Le Monde revealed that the dictator’s bodyguards are often nearby.
This is based on data from fitness app Strava which showed that four members of Putin’s Federal Protective Service (FSO) security entourage ran near the lair between August and September 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
The same US application also links the bodyguards to another secret Putin residence, a dacha just 18 miles from NATO territory in Finland, in Lake Ladoga National Park, the paper says.
Russian independent media and now-deceased opposition leader Alexei Navalny sparked a scandal by revealing the existence of Mount Gelendzhik, which has its own vineyard and 16 stories of underground passageways buried in the rock, described as most ingenious than Dr. No’s bunker.
New evidence that Vladimir Putin secretly owns a billion-pound palace on the Black Sea has emerged following a data leak from fitness app Strava
Four members of Putin’s Federal Protective Service security entourage ran near the residence between August and September 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
The Kremlin has denied that the luxurious residence belongs to the Russian president
To dispel the scandal, Putin’s close billionaire friend Arkady Rotenberg claimed that he – and not the dictator – was the “beneficiary” of the palace and that he intended to turn it into an apartment hotel.
Few believed it and the latest revelations are further indication that this palace belongs to Putin and his secret partner Alina Kabaeva, 41, who has two undisclosed children with the tyrant, Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Jr., five.
The palace designs included on the eighth underground floor “a balcony – literally a loggia hanging over the sea” built into the cliff, from which the owner can enjoy a tasting of wine from the palace’s stock, said an engineer from mines turned whistleblower, who allegedly worked in construction – named only as Viktor.
Compared to a James Bond villain’s lair, it includes a throne for the dictator and previously featured a striptease stage and a pole dancing room.
An investigation in May by FBK media – previously associated with the “murdered” Navalny – and Proekt found that the interior decoration of the palace was being renovated.
Gone are the dictator’s famous striptease stage and hookah lounge, casino, game room and ‘aqua disco’, which he was mocked and shamed for in the original 2021 disclosure.
They may not be seen as commensurate with his recent push for traditional values.
Also gone is the garish gold seen in previous Putin palace reveals.
The residence was renovated and the dictator’s famous striptease stage and pole dance hall, casino, games room and ‘aqua disco’, for which they were mocked and shamed, were removed.
The palace oozes luxury with rooms overlooking the Black Sea, and one even includes a figurine of a bear.
Inside the palace is a wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images.
This was replaced by a full palace church, as Russian emperors used to have, with his own wooden throne for Putin, along with sacred religious icons and images.
One represents the canonized Prince Vladimir the Great, the same name as Putin and his historical hero, who more than a thousand years ago was credited with uniting Ukraine and Russia.
“This is probably the only room where the name of the true owner of this palace is directly indicated,” the investigation notes.
Epic paintings of historical war scenes appeared, showing a heroic Russia, for example at the Battle of Borodino in 1812, when Napoleon suffered heavy losses.
One includes part of a prominent Kremlin painting called “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword!”
The investigation was based on the revelations of a worker redesigning the palace who brought in his FSB guards to film the gigantic palace full of luxury.
The largest bedroom with sea views has a figure of a bear.
There are treatment rooms that will possibly be used for “medical and cosmetic procedures.”
Many believe the palace belongs to Putin and his secret partner Alina Kabaeva, 41, who has two undisclosed children with the tyrant, Ivan, nine, and Vladimir Jr., five.
Putin is known to have another palace north of Moscow, in Valdai, where Kabaeva and her two children can reportedly live like royalty.
Previously, the mining engineer described “a whole anthill in the rock under the house,” including a nuclear shelter.
In August 2023, General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, once close to Putin and keeper of secrets about the palace’s construction, died mysteriously in prison.
The northern hideout is located in the Karelia region, near a picturesque 13-foot waterfall and a portion of requisitioned national park.
According to independent news outlet Dossier Centre, a viewing point with a full view of the beautiful site is closed to access by ordinary people in Russia.
Putin is known to have another palace north of Moscow, in Valdai, where Kabaeva and her two children live like royalty.
The Strava exercise app was used by French guards protecting President Emmanuel Macron, US secret service agents protecting Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Le Monde reported.
The military, generally sports fans, had not thought about protecting and hiding their activity and decided to publish it.
This, in turn, has allowed Strava to reveal the presence of military bases around the world or, more frequently, their layout and the paths taken by guards in or around them.